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IDENTIFICATION AND BIO: A ballet choreographer who composes music and is dedicated to exploring the connections between music and dance, Matthew Nash has been living with HIV/AIDS since 1983. According to his official biography, "This on-ongoing exploration of survival, life, and death informs his work and has helped create a vision of anger, wit, sense, and randomness, encouraging collaboration with dancers, musicians, designers, and writers." Nash began studying piano at the age of 5 and, at age 14, entered New York's Mannes School of Music. Simultaneously, he began to train in ballet at the Joffrey Ballet School, ultimately continuing at the School of American Ballet and at the Manhattan School of Dance under Margaret Craske. His choreography teachers have included Leonide Massine of the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo and James Waring of Judson Dance Theater. Nash is artistic director of his own New York-based company, Splinters & Shards, and he served as artistic director of Juneau Dance in Alaska from 1997 to 1999. He has taught as a visiting assistant professor at UCLA's Department of World Arts and Cultures and in the dance program at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Most recently he taught repertory and ballet technique in the Dance Program at the University of Washington from 2002 to 2003. He has made more than 45 works. He is also a fashion designer.
KEY CONTACT PERSON(S)/EXECUTOR OF ESTATE:
HUMAN REPOSITORIES OF THE WORK
Melinda Buckwalter, dancer
Elizabeth (Betsy) Cooper, dancer
Another significant dancer of Nash's works is Jean McDade.
VIDEO DOCUMENTATION
The following videotapes are available for viewing at the Dance Collection of the New York Public Library: Matthew Nash (1978-81)—compilation video including choreographic excerpts by Matthew Nash; recorded in performance in New York City by Dennis Diamond; performed by members of The Dance Ring; one VHS (100 min.); call number MGZIA 4-43. Comedy and Outrage in Dance (1982)—videorecorded interview during which choreographers James Cunningham and Matthew Nash talk about various aspects of the use of humor in their dances as part of the Eye on Dance Series; telecast 3 May; one 3/4 in. videocassette (28 min.); call number MGZIC 9-2840. Matthew Nash at Riverside (1982)—compilation video including choreographic excerpts by Matthew Nash; recorded in performance at the Riverside Dance Festival on 1 and 3 October by Lee Goldman; two 3/4 in. videocassettes (80 min.); call number MGZIC 9-536. Twelve Most Famous Fashion Models of 1952 (1989)—compilation videorecording presented by Dance Theatre Workshop with choreography and music by Matthew Nash; videotaped in performance at Dance Theatre Workshop's Bessie Schonberg Theater, New York, as part of the Winter Events, on 18 February; two 3/4 in. videocassettes (68 min.); call number MGZIC 9-5860. House of Breath (1993)—videorecording; choreography and performance by Matthew Nash; music by Dennis Deal; videotaped onstage at unidentified location by Video D Studios; one VHS (31 min.); call number MGZIA 4-2401.
PHOTOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTATION
MOVEMENT NOTATION
PRODUCTION MATERIALS
ORAL HISTORY:
PERSONAL PAPERS
At the Dance Collection of the New York Public Library: Matthew Nash Music and Dance [clippings]; call number MGZR. Nash, Matthew. [Clippings]; call number MGZR.
IMMEDIATE NEEDS
OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION:
LIST OR OVERVIEW OF WORKS
Blaise Pascal (1976)—commissioned by Rideau de Bruxelles, Belgium; music by Grass; text by Pascal/LaRoche; seven dancers; 75 minutes. The Elements of Style (1981)—for Splinters & Shards; music by Matthew Nash; text by Strunk & White; four dancers; 18 minutes. A Party of One (1982)—for Splinters & Shards; music by Elgar, Grieg, Piaf, Porter, Puccini, Tchaikovsky, et al; four dancers; 18 minutes. Allure (1982)—for Splinters & Shards; music by Matthew Nash; text by Diana Vreeland; six dancers; 30 minutes. Talk of the Town (1983)—for Splinters & Shards; music by Matthew Nash; text from The New Yorker; two dancers; 5 minutes. Parkway (1983)—for Ballet Stars '83; music by Moses Pergament; two dancers; 11 minutes. Handbook of Ornament (1983)—for Riverside Dance Festival, performed by Splinters & Shards 1984; music by Matthew Nash; text by Franz Sales Meyer; three dancers; 14 minutes. In the Winter of Cities (1983)—for Splinters & Shards; music by Matthew Nash; text by Tennessee Williams; nineteen dancers; 12 minutes. Straight Run Naphtha (1984)—for Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival; music by Matthew Nash; four dancers; 14 minutes. Auction News (1984)—for Splinters & Shards; music by Matthew Nash; text from The New York Times; six dancers; 14 minutes. Three Abstract Solos (1985)—for Splinters & Shards; music by Matthew Nash; six dancers, 15 minutes. Salome (1985)—for Canadian Opera Company; music by Richard Strauss; solo; 8 minutes. The Trial of Roxanne (1986)—for P.S. 1; music by Matthew Nash; text from court transcripts and judge's opinion: Charles James v. Roxanne Kamenstein and Samuel Winston, Inc., 1954; seven dancers, 16 minutes. Dark New Light (The Ben Casey Ballet) (1986)—for Dance Theater Workshop; music by Matthew Nash; text from TV script three dancers; 21 minutes. Counterclaim (1986)—for Splinters & Shards; music by Matthew Nash; text by E.B. White; three dancers, 11 minutes. Spigot (1987)—for Splinters & Shards; music by Billie Holiday; three dancers; 16 minutes. Almanac (1987)—for Johnstown Symphony; music by J.S. Bach; six dancers; 18 minutes. Qualm (1988)—for Splinters and Shards; music by Francis Poulenc; solo; 8 minutes. Pseudologia Fantastica (1988)—for Hartford Ballet; music by Sergei Rachmaninoff; 13 dancers; 29 minutes. Dusk (1988)—for Ice Theater of New York; music by Astor Piazzolla; three dancers; 8 minutes. Twelve Most Famous Fashion Models of 1952 (1989)—for Dance Theater Workshop; music by Matthew Nash; seventeen dancers; 90 minutes. Title Search (1990)—for Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts; music by Mathew Nash; five dancers; 16 minutes. Sky Promise Fugue (1990)—for Hartford Ballet; music by Felix Mendelssohn; eight dancers, 28 minutes. Incidental Music (1990)—for Splinters & Shards; music by Matthew Nash; seven dancers; 26 minutes. Esquisse (1992)—for Splinters & Shards; music by Matthew Nash; two dancers; 12 minutes. House of Breath (1993)—for Splinters & Shards; music by Dennis Deal; five dancers; 33 minutes. Swan Lake Work (1994)—for Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival; music by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky; six dancers; 18 minutes. Don't Look (1994)—for Splinters & Shards; music by Sergei Rachmaninoff; five dancers; 24 minutes. Five Particular Women (1995)—for Splinters & Shards; music Monglian folk and American torch songs c. 1950; five dancers; 24 minutes. Fall of a Leaf (1995)—for Splinters & Shards; music by Puccini; text by Matthew Nash; solo; 7 minutes. Wild Darkness (1996)—for New York and Brooklyn performing arts centers; text by Harold Brodsky; solo; 6 minutes. Four Corners (1997)—for Splinters & Shards; music by Anton Aresky; four dancers; 17 minutes. Winter Brilliance (1998)—for Juneau Dance; music by Corelli, Debussy, Engstrom, Filipino, Tchaikovsky, Tlingit, et al; 165 performers; 135 minutes. The White Ballet (1998)—for Juneau Dance; music by The Beatles; six dancers; 32 minutes. Suggested Steps for Classical Dancing (1998)—for Juneau Dance; set to children's writings on love; two dancers; 4 minutes. Somewhere West of Laramie (1998)—for Juneau Dance; music by Antonin Dvorak; text automobile advertisement; two dancers; 6 minutes. See or be Seen (1998)—for Juneau Dance; music by Bernard Herrmann; eighteen dancers; 27 minutes. Nocturne (1998)—for Juneau Dance; music by Frederic Chopin; solo; 4 minutes. Ballet Classique de Roccoco Cocao (1998)—for Juneau Dance; music by Giaccomo Rossini; six dancers; 9 minutes.
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